Twice Lost: The Taken 2

Summary

From the Publisher that brought you popular short story series Song of Teeth, Children of Time, Chains of Darkness, The Splicers, The Night Sculptor, Blood Waters, Requiem for a Dream, and Soulyte. And now, here's The Taken...

A MAJOR MEDICAL BREAKTHROUGH THAT CAN CURE, AND A COUNTRY LOSING HOPE FOR ITS DISEASEDA RACE BETWEEN TWO FORCES

As the years stretch on after the outbreak of a horrific, mind-destroying disease, debates begin over what to do with the infected. These people, known as the Taken, have been gathered into Sanctuaries to protect the uninfected and themselves from their violent hunger. Some have begun to question the usefulness of these Sanctuaries, while others argue that the Taken need to remain protected until a cure is found.

Chloe and her fellow Agents are caught in the middle of this political argument, and start to face some difficult moral quandaries. A question looms over everyone: Can people who have lost everything that makes them human still be considered people, or have they merely become a walking disease?

Changing public opinion starts to put serious pressure on the scientists at Icarus Labs as well, but they still continue their search for a cure. Miranda and her parents are also running their own secret study of Luke, who is showing surprising signs of recovery.

But now they must fight against time as well as nature.

On the verge of a major breakthrough, they may face the more difficult challenge of convincing a country which is giving up hope that a cure is still worth fighting for.

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EXCERPTWith a sigh that made him look suddenly very tired, Carson slumped his shoulders and leaned back on his desk. “The truth is, this is not the only incident where something like this has happened. We’ve kept them out of the public eye, but reports of people—usually family members—getting killed by sneaking into Sanctuaries have been increasing across the country. Good Agents have died trying to rescue them. And with all the money we’ve poured into these brilliant researchers, they can’t even tell us if this damn thing is a virus or bacteria or whatever.

“Our directives have changed. New orders have come down from the very top of the CSA. These orders are to remain classified until further notice; no word of this must be leaked to any public citizen, for their own safety. And yours. I will inform the other Agents here myself, on a need-to-know basis. From now on, it is no longer a priority to preserve the life of any Taken. Taken are no longer to be considered citizens, and you are hereby authorized to use deadly force whenever necessary. This order has been retroactively applied to the incident on September 2nd, and Agent Payton has been cleared of all disciplinary charges. Any questions?” At the last sentence, he turned his icicle stare at Chloe, as if daring her to ask anything.

Chloe’s heart thumped a terrified beat of defiance at the stare, and before she could stop herself, she blurted out, “What are we to consider Taken then, if they are no longer citizens? Sir?”

Sergeant Carson’s expression did not change, but his voice dropped to an even deeper baritone rumble. “Targets.”

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Twice Lost - Eve Hathaway

loves.

Chapter 1

ICARUS Labs' small conference room, designed for twenty people to sit around a long table, was crammed with every person in the research department, from the interns on up. The sleek maple table had been pushed against the wall, and nearly fifty people stood shoulder to shoulder. Looking back from her position near the front of the room, Miranda imagined them all like disembodied heads shuffling anxiously around in a sea of lab coats.

Miss Miller, do you know what's going on? muttered a young lab assistant who stood against Miranda's left shoulder. Miranda recalled seeing the woman a few times, but was embarrassed that she had to glance at the woman's name tag to remember her name was Laura. Laura's pale grey eyes were huge and glossy with concern.

Miranda smiled in what she hoped was a comforting way, but she could not get rid of the nagging worry in her mind either. Sorry, I don't. I got the same message as everybody else; that there was this emergency, mandatory meeting. I don't know anything more than that.

With a nervous nod, Laura returned to staring aimlessly around the room, trying to avoid eye contact with anyone, like most of the other researchers. When working closely with such a mysteriously swift and destructive disease, no one took the words emergency or mandatory as good omens. Mostly in silence, with bursts of stuttered whispering, everyone waited, absorbed in their own private imaginings of what else this disease could violently take from their lives.

After nearly fifteen minutes of nervous waiting, everyone tensed as Miranda's parents and a few other senior scientists-including Miranda's supervisor, Dr. Vincent Turner-walked in the room. Miranda's father and the others joined the crowd, while her mother stood facing the room. As chief scientist, Dr. Linda Miller conveyed a perfect portrait of elegant professionalism, standing straight and tall, her white hair twisted back in a perfectly neat bun. With an authoritative clearing of her throat, though everyone was already silent, she addressed them all.

This morning, I received an urgent e-mail from the head of the Citizens' Safety Agency. Straightforward as usual, Dr. Linda Miller skipped over any formalities. They have declared what they are calling a 'temporary emergency ban' on any research involving living infected subjects. I have spent most of my morning trying to reach them for more details, but the only thing their representatives will say is that any and all of our testing with live subjects is immediately and indefinitely suspended.

The quick, snipped stream of words carried Miranda along before the meaning could fully sink in. Did she mean Mrs. J? Most of her coworkers must have had the same confused expression, because her mother paused and tried again.

We can no longer take or use any samples taken from infected people until after they have died and their bodies have been approved for research by the Agency. I tried to tell their Agents, as I'm sure I don't need to tell any of you, that since whatever causes the disease seems to degrade rapidly after death, almost all of our advances have come through collecting samples from live donors. I tried to tell them that a good 80% of our lab's work is analyzing samples taken from our current in-house volunteer subject and from other living subjects at quarantine centers and the like. All I could get in response was that they were 'reevaluating the benefits of this method against the risk of dealing with the infected.' They're cutting our funding by half, effective immediately.

A rustle stirred through the room as everyone shot nervous glances at each other, but no one dared interrupt their chief of staff. Dr. Linda Miller paused again and, in a rare moment